The mysterious nine-second call from the White House to a January 6 rioter: CNN reveals the rioter

[BumRushDaShow]

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Last edited Mon Sep 26, 2022, 11:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN Politics

Washington CNN — At 4:34 pm on January 6, 2021, a cell phone registered to a Capitol rioter who had stormed the building, received a phone call from a White House landline, according to records obtained by CNN. The call lasted for only nine seconds. Who placed the call and why remains a mystery, but it is notable as the only known call made from the White House to the phone of a rioter during this critical time period. According to the records, the call came from 202-456-1414, the publicly available number for the White House. Like many businesses, outgoing calls from the White House do not show a specific extension.

The call was placed in the late afternoon, shortly after former President Donald Trump posted a video message on social media telling the rioters at the Capitol, “go home, we love you, you’re very special,” at 4:17pm. It’s unclear what, if any, connection exists between the White House and the rioter, including whether the call was made by mistake or whether the call went to voicemail. The call was first disclosed by Denver Riggleman in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes. Riggleman is a former Republican congressman who left his job working as a technical adviser for the January 6 committee in April.

CNN first learned about the call earlier this year and is revealing the rioter’s identity for the first time. The cell phone belonged to a 26-year-old Trump supporter from Brooklyn, New York named Anton Lunyk, who traveled to Washington DC the night before January 6 with two friends, Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation, as well as a search of public records. The three men attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse and then, along with hundreds of others, entered and illegally demonstrated inside the Capitol, a charge they pleaded guilty to in April and were sentenced for earlier this month.

Attorneys for all three men declined to comment to CNN. According to multiple sources familiar with the investigation, Lunyk says he doesn’t remember receiving the nine-second call and claims he doesn’t know anyone who worked in the Trump White House. The phone call was not mentioned in Lunyk’s sentencing or any court documents. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Washington DC declined to comment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/politics/mysterious-phone-call-white-house-rioter-jan-6/index.html

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Headline updated.

Full updated headline: The mysterious nine-second call from the White House to a January 6 rioter: CNN reveals the rioter’s identity for the first time


Original headline -

A mysterious nine second call from the White House to January 6 rioter but no clear answers why[/div]

[sop]

1. Was Rudy butt-dialing again?

[BumRushDaShow]

2. He would have had

his butt plopped up on one of the WH desk phones! And it might have even had a speed-dial set to boot.

(the fact that the person named by CNN is from NY suggests )

[gab13by13]

3. Riggleman is selling a book.

[Xoan]

7. bingo

[RussBLib]

12. That does not disqualify the info

He's been working with the Jan 6 committee and no doubt has discovered a few things of interest.

[Ford_Prefect]

4. So the question is who called and what was said? Why would anyone in the WH call a number that they

have claimed they didn't know to speak to a person they claim wasn't connected in any way to the WH? That is light years from coincidence. The WH caller intended to speak to exactly Lunyk, or whomever they expected would be holding that phone, with very specific instructions or questions about the state of play inside the Capitol Building. Likewise Lunyk was on station expecting to receive and probably relay the same information. Otherwise why would he answer that particular inbound number and stay on for 9 full seconds in the middle of such a chaotic event.

FYI 9 seconds is longer than you might think.

In a situation where there is no room for incidental actions and where the evidence increasingly has shown there was very clear direction driving the actions of the invaders that call was not about an order for lattes and scones. The person who initiated that call either wanted to ask a specific person about what was happening, or to confirm what had happened, and/or deliver instructions about what should happen next.

[intheflow]

8. "9 seconds is longer than you think."

So true! I remember NPR did a piece on the Northridge earthquake back in 1994. The quake lasted 15 seconds, so they went silent for 15 seconds to illustrate how long that is. It was a looooong radio silence.

In this case, nine seconds is long enough to have this conversation (or one like it):

WH: Were you able to get into Pelosi's office?

Rioter: Yes.

WH: Did you get the file folder marked "Top Secret"?

Rioter: Yes.

(call ends)

[question everything]

13. Interesting

[tanyev]

5. Hmm. Maybe Lunyk's name & phone number was on a roster or sign-in list

right above or below someone the White House really, really wanted to talk to.

[doc03]

6. That is when the order to stand down was made nt

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Someone time me:

"This is Mr. Green. Call Mr. White on a burner phone. He'll relay new instructions from Big Pumpkin."

[PSPS]

10. "Like many businesses, outgoing calls from the White House do not show a specific extension."

Um, the white house has a PBX system and every PBX has SMDR which logs details of all incoming and outgoing calls, including extensions involved.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I know in the "old days"

federal offices had pools (bundles) of POTS lines with switches and whatnot. But with so many doing VoIP now (my agency did that before I retired), they may have dropped most of the POTS and have something else going on with how they allocate the exchanges. We still had to keep some POTS lines for certain things (alarms for temp control for some of the lab fridges/freezers and for the computer room, etc) but we were basically using the fiber to communicate for voice and data. There still should be some kind of log somewhere although could label the lines however they want.

[question everything]

15. Local hospitals, too

Last year while spouse was undergoing open heart surgery I was updated several times and the phone number was a general hospital one. Same with calls from doctors offices within the hospital.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. With the "Caller ID", those are labels that can configured with software

by whoever is maintaining their voice system and they'll usually only show the main number as the exchange can be TMI for a typical display. lol I think we were using "Cisco Unity" (later Unity Connection).

[Novara]

14. I'm a little bit skeptical

Only because I can't imagine they were conspiring with people that far down the totem pole. A call to a leader of one of the organized groups? Yeah, I can see that. But who the fuck are these people? Average mouth-breathers? Why would the White House have their number? But maybe this person is high up the food chain or was involved on organizing things, I don't know.

[Ford_Prefect]

17. It is possible that they thought they were calling someone else in the food chain.

I had that same question after reading the whole story until I thought about who that phone might be next to. That is they called it thinking that it was one of the numbers which WAS a touch point inside one of the action groups. That they allegedly called the wrong person is curious. However it is possible they had his number confused with someone else's.

It is possible the WH actually dialed a wrong number and got this guy? But then you have to ask if the evidence data team that found it had all that data sorted out wouldn't the similarity of Anton Lunyk's number to another phone in their searches have stood out and been considered. A Brooklyn/NYC area code would stand out in the scheme IMO.

We still get back to the idea that someone in the WH had his number and dialed it. Who would have had it and just as important, WHY would they call him and at that point in the day?

[Omaha Steve]

18. After a review by forum hosts....LOCKING

Feature story. Can be posted in GD.

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